“Wow. This should be fun.”
A beautiful Victrola with a large hand-painted flowered horn played The Blue Danube when they entered the cabin. Six Officers, one Colonel, and five Generals sat around the galley table. They were drinking what looked like Cognac and smoking cigars.
“Gentlemen,” Pernass began, “allow me to introduce Kat’s Rats, one of the finest Undercover Commando Units in all of Northern Africa.”
Pernass proceeded to introduce the Officers. Generalfeldmarschall Job Wilhelm von Witzleben, Generaloberst Friedrich Fromm, Generaloberst Erich Hoepner, General der Nachrichtentruppe Fritz Erich Fellgiebel, Generalmajor Heinrich Graf zu Dohna-Schlobitten, and Oberst Claus von Stauffenberg.
Pernass explained to the Officers that Kat commanded a Commando Team. The tall and handsome young Colonel Stauffenberg laughed. “Fräulein Wolfram, it’s very unexpected to meet you here. And in charge. Thinking about it though, when last we met, you appeared to be in charge back then also.” He took her hand and kissed it, “it’s a great pleasure to see you again.”
Everyone looked at Kat questioningly, except Dore and Stewart. “Jock, Harry, you remember the Colonel, except he was a Captain in North Africa when we first met him. And how is Field Marshall Rommel?”
“He still tells the story about how he released you in Cyrenaica just to piss off the SS and Oberführer Pernass,” he said, still smiling at her and giving Pernass a little shrug. “Hitler however, didn’t take the news of your release, in disregard to his Kommandobefehl, well and we believe he is waiting for the time he can remove the Field Marshal. General Rommel disregards many of Hitler’s edicts and strictly follows the 1929 Geneva Convention’s Rules of War. I fear for the Field Marshal’s life.”
Kat looked at Stauffenberg understandingly, “an honorable man. Difficult to find these days. I too am having difficulties in adhering to orders from my Commanders at this particular moment.” Kat looked at him and brightened, “on a happier note, you’re looking well and still as handsome as I remember.”
“And you are just as beautiful. And if I may say, that SS uniform looks absolutely stunning on you.”
She smiled back at him. “I think introductions are in order.” She gestured towards Capetti. “Major Alessandro Capetti is Italian, Captain Harry Stewart from New Zealand, and Flight Lieutenant Sam Kelly is from India, and Oberführer Pernass is his uncle.” She gestured towards Dore. “And Sergeant Major Jock Dore is Scottish and me of course. Just call me Kat.”
“And you’re all here to kill Hitler?” Stauffenberg exclaimed, in a shocked tone.
“Of course we are. You could hardly trust a German to do it.”
“And you all speak German?”
“Most of us do.”
“Gentlemen, relax,” Pernass said, stepping between them. “Major Wolfram is my stepdaughter. Believe me, you can trust her.”
Switching off the music and gathering extra chairs, they all settled around the galley table, the German Officers looking very nervous. When Pernass refilled their brandy glasses, they began to relax. They even asked Dore if Haggis was really edible, and Kelly if they flew Spitfires in India.
Kelly laughed. “I trained on elephants.”
Everyone laughed.
Field Marshall von Witzleben, took a personal interest in Kat, and enquired about her choice of occupation. “Many of your exploits in Northern Africa has crossed my desk over the past couple of years. One would think that you single handedly turned the tide in Rommel’s efforts.” The Field Marshal took another sip of his cognac and asked, “tell me Fräulein, how did one so beautiful become a spy and a Commando?”
Kat looked at the distinguished German, then around the room at the other men. “It’s an interesting story that I have never told another soul in all these years. But seeing as we are all friends here, I feel I can trust that you will keep this secret just between us…” Kat looked around the room at their heads slightly nodding.
The British SIS had an opening for an assassin. I was one of many who applied for the position. After all the background checks, interviews, and testing were done, there were three finalists. Two men and myself.
For the final test, the SIS agents took one of the men to a large metal door and handed him a gun. "We must know that you will follow our instructions, no matter what the circumstances. Inside this room, you will find your wife sitting in a chair. Kill Her!"
The man said, "You can't be serious. I could never shoot my wife." The agent said, "Then you're not the right man for this job. Take your wife and go home."
The second man was given the same instructions. He took the gun and went into the room. All was quiet for about five minutes. Then the man came out with tears in his eyes. "I tried, but I can't kill my wife." The agent said, "You don't have what it takes. Take your wife and go home."
Finally, it was my turn. I was given the same instructions, to kill my husband. The agent handed me a gun and I went into the room. The agents heard shots, one after another. They heard screaming, crashing, banging on the walls. After a few minutes, all was quiet. Finally, I opened the door and just stood there. I wiped the sweat from my brow and said to them. "This gun is loaded with nothing but blanks… I had to beat him to death with the chair… I got the job…"
With a roar of laughter, they got on like a house on fire.
Later, when Pernass explained that Kat’s Rats would parachute into Poland, Stauffenberg looked worried.
“I’m going to Ranstenburg tomorrow,” he said, “and I’d intended to do something about this myself. What if I succeed?”
“That’s a good question,” Kat said, looking at her stepfather. “How will we know?”
Pernass grunted. “Oh, believe me, we’ll know. If the Führer’s killed, the whole world will know.”
“That’s not true,” Kat said. “If Hitler’s killed, it will be kept a secret for as long as possible.”
Pernass shook his head. “No, it won’t. The first person who’ll know is me, and believe me, when the occasion suits, I have a very big mouth.”
Kat wasn’t convinced and found herself thinking about Fleming. She held up a hand. “I also have another problem. Just as you all have an issue with Hitler, we have a problem with London. The world is at the mercy of politicians and, excluding Churchill, ours can be as bad as yours. We think certain people in London tried to kill us when we were in Vienna, so right now, we’re not taking orders from anyone. If this thing with Hitler goes south, we could get hung for treason.”
“We all die from something,” Stauffenberg said.
“Preferably when old and with bottle of Italian wine,” Capetti interjected.
“Or a single malt,” Dore added.
Pernass peered at Kat. “You want to call Fleming? We have a radio room on the yacht.”
Stauffenberg waved a hand at them. “Absolutely not. Not a word of this can be broadcast on the airwaves.”
Kat shrugged. “I don’t have to tell him what we’re up to. Or where we are. I can say we’re still hiding in Austria. He’ll have no way of knowing.”
There was a long silence as everyone considered this. Eventually, one of the Generals asked, “Where will you go after Rastenburg? You’ll be nearer to Russia than Germany.”
Kat thought about this at some length. It was a question that haunted her ever since Vienna. If they parachuted into Rastenburg, they’d have no transport, and they’d be in eastern Poland. She doubted they’d even find an airfield. There would be vehicles at the bunker. But what if the attack was particularly intense and all the vehicles were all destroyed?
“I thought of going to Minsk.”
Colonel Stauffenberg scratched hi
s chin. “If you can drive to Minsk, you can drive to Gdańsk, and if you can drive to Gdańsk, you can catch a boat to Copenhagen.” He smiled. “Does it matter what you tell him? If we succeed in killing Hitler, the war will be over. You can go anywhere you like.”
The thought of the war being over was difficult to imagine. Kat had been an innocent twenty years old when it started. Her whole life was the war. “Well, it’s certainly worth considering. In the meantime, I have to say something, so I’ll say we’re still in Austria.”
“As you wish.” He looked at Stauffenberg. “So do you mind if she calls London?”
Stauffenberg studied her. “You want to find out if Fleming tried to kill you?”
“Yes, I do.”
“Fine. I’m okay with that. But good luck with your questions. Politicians rarely tell the truth.”
Pernass stood up. “I’ll show you to the radio room.”
“Actually, before you do, we should take the yacht upstream for a mile. Then if someone traces the call, we’ll be gone when they get there.”
“The girl’s got a head on her,” Generaloberst Erich Hoepner said. “Move the yacht, Rudolph.”
Going out on deck, Kat watched the anchor raise, and the yacht slowly motored upstream. The city fell behind surprisingly quickly, and soon they were surrounded by fields, so she went back inside.
“Whenever you’re ready… Rudolph.” She winced. He’d always asked her to call him papa. She always had a hard time calling him anything but Arschloch.
Rudolph seemed to be a good compromise.
He led her into an aft cabin that had once been a sleeping compartment, now filled with radio equipment. “You know how to operate it?”
“Not really. I’m useless with electronics.”
“Then allow me,” he said, seating himself and switching on the radio. “I’m becoming quite an expert with these things.”
She watched him as he put on the headphones and adjusted the dials, and it occurred to her that this probably wasn’t the first time her stepfather called the SOE. It sounded ridiculous, but if anyone could be a double agent, it was Pernass. He was craftier than a fox in a chicken run.
Handing her the earphones, he stood up. “You’re through to Baker Street.”
She almost gasped, Pernass knew the SOE location was on Baker Street. Putting on the earphones, she leaned into the microphone. “Who am I speaking to?”
“Unit fifteen,” came the reply. “How can I help you?”
“This is the Big Bad Wolf. Can you put me through to Commander Fleming?”
“Hold on. I have to get him.”
Waving Pernass away, as if she took an embarrassing phone call from her teenage boyfriend, she waited, listening to the buzz and crackles of the airwaves. She didn’t have to wait long.
“Hello?”
“It’s me. I’m still alive… you’ll be surprised to know.”
“Kat? Is that really you?”
“Yup. All eight stone of me. What the fuck are you playing at, Commander?”
Fleming coughed a rattling cough. “I’m sorry, Kat. We tried to stop that air raid, but they lost contact with the pilot.”
“What a pathetic excuse. Why did you authorize the bombing in the first place?”
“It was a mistake. It was scheduled by the War Office.”
“Bullshit. There was an air raid the night before we got there, and the hotel wasn’t touched. This time it was completely destroyed.”
She heard a click as Fleming lit a cigarette, imagined him gripping his long cigarette holder the way you’d hold a pen. “Well, thank God you’re alive. Did Kelly survive?”
Once again, fingers of suspicion crawled up her spine. Fleming hadn’t asked if the team survived, just Kelly… Pernass’s nephew. “Yes, he survived.”
“Well, that’s er… good. Where are you? What are you doing?”
And there it was, that critical question. “We’re hiding from the English. What do you think we’re doing?”
“What do you mean, you’re hiding from the English? We’re not trying to kill you.”
“Is that what you said to Nora Baker?”
“Nora who?”
“Codename Madelaine. You betrayed her to the Germans. Or have you forgotten already?”
Fleming breathed heavily into the microphone. “Madelaine Baker was a double agent, and we had proof.”
“Ya? Well, my stepfather is Oberführer Rudolph Pernass, and he’s as NAZI as they come. By the way, he’s still alive as well.”
“You saw Pernass?” Fleming asked, sounding shocked. “You actually saw him?”
She smiled. The conversation became quite satisfying. “I did. We had a coffee together.”
“Good God. Where is he now?”
“Haven’t the foggiest. As I said, we’re in hiding.”
“We need you to come in, Major. We have a mission for you.”
“I’m sure you have, but we don’t trust you, Commander. We might just go back to Italy and sit out the war. I’ve seen a lovely house on the Amalfi coast.”
She heard Fleming’s hand slam down. “You can’t do that!” he roared. “We need you here!”
“We’ll think about it.” Switching off the radio and spinning the tuner, Kat grumbled, “that man can forget about his Christmas gift this year!”
She stood up. It was time to move the yacht again.
She found Pernass in the galley. He was making coffee and talking to Kelly.
“I don’t understand,” Pernass said. “How could you betray our family?”
“How could you betray your Führer?” Kelly countered. “Who’s side are you on?”
“Hitler wasn’t always crazy,” Pernass said, defensively. “He was a good leader.”
“Really?” Kelly said dryly. “He wanted to get rid of the Jews as early as 1922. He began murdering them in 1941. When did you join the NAZI party?”
“Hitler wasn’t killing Jews at the time. Besides, the country was coming apart at the seams. The Treaty of Versailles nearly destroyed Germany. Then the American Stock Market Crash pushed the country into a deep depression. With 40 percent unemployment, millions of Germans starved. We needed someone to lead us out of the chaos. Hitler provided us with that leadership and brought us out of an economic disaster.”
“I’ll take your word for it.”
“Boys,” Kat said, interrupting them. “This is not a creative conversation. We need to decide what to do for the next few days. If the Colonel’s going to Rastenburg, we need to give him time. We don’t want to go all that way, only to discover it’s all over.”
Pernass shook his head. “Stauffenberg’s taking a terrible risk. Hitler knows he’s a target. He’ll have taken precautions against assassination. I tried to warn him. Stauffenberg won’t listen to me. Anyway, it will take you two days to reach the mountains. You’ll need a truck, and you need to be equipped. You’ll also need new papers. You can stay on the yacht, of course. It will take me a couple of days to organize everything. Then you’ll collect the equipment from Berlin, and you have to get there.”
“Berlin? We need to go to Berlin?”
“Of course you do. It’s the best route to Poland. You’ll need detailed directions. The bunker in Rastenburg is not easy to find.”
She glanced at Kelly. His face slightly pink, as if he’d had a heated argument. It was unlikely that Pernass wanted to kill Hitler for ideological reasons. He was more interested in power and money. It wouldn’t surprise her in the least to discover after the Führer’s death that her stepfather hi
-tailed it to Buenos Aires with a fortune in gold and valuable art, and Kelly probably suspected the same.
“So, when do you think we should ditch the Bentley?” she asked.
“On your way to Berlin. I’ll organize a truck you can pick up in Hannover. I can probably arrange sleeping bags as well. You might have to sleep in the truck.”
“That reminds me, we need money. I don’t know how much we need, but if we’re going to Berlin…”
“I’ll make sure you have enough.”
That night, after the German Officers left, they slept on the yacht.
There was food in the galley, “Hey, Kat!” Dore called, walking into the galley. “This yacht has a shower, and it works. Ya wanna go first?”
“Absolutely. Thanks, Jock. Are there towels?”
“Yup. Heaps of them. Whoever owns this yacht must be rich. The water’s fed through a heating duct, so the water’s actually hot.”
“Holy crap. I can’t wait.” Making her way through to the master bedroom, she opened the water closet, turned on the water, and quickly stripped. She hadn’t had a shower since Vienna.
The cabin door banged. “Kat? Are you in there?” it was Stewart.
“Go away, Harry! I’m having a shower!”
“I know you are! I just came to say there’s soap in a small container in the shower!”
“Soap?” she gasped. “Oh my God, soap!” Scanning the cubical, she found the container tucked behind the empty soap tray. Inside was a large bar, and it smelled of lavender. Washing all over, she rubbed it into her hair, lathering it until her hair transformed into a mass of foam, rinsing after until it squeaked. She would like to have stayed there forever, washing her hair and making herself fragrant, but the hot water might run out, and she wasn’t the only one who wanted or needed, to wash. Wrapping herself in a towel and grabbing her clothes, she went in search of a different cabin.
“Shower’s free!” she yelled.
CHAPTER 24
Kat and Die Wolfsschanze Page 18
